Club for Growth aims to keep Mitch Daniels out of Senate race

The conservative group Club for Growth Action is working to discourage former GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels from running for Senate in Indiana, pledging to spend against him if he jumps into the race.

"Daniels will be this cycle’s Pat McCrory if he decides to run, and Club for Growth Action will spend whatever it takes to ensure voters know his real record,” the group's David McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman, said in a Thursday statement.

McIntosh was referring to the former North Carolina governor who the Club spent millions against in the state's 2022 Senate race, helping GOP Rep. Ted Budd secure the Republican nomination. The group spent $11.7 million on the race last year, per campaign finance filings.

The group's opening salvo against Daniels is a 60-second TV ad, first reported by WISH-TV. The group is spending roughly $16,000 on the ad, which will airing statewide during Sunday political programs, per a spokesman.

"After 50 years in big government, big pharma and big academia, Mitch Daniels forgot how to fight," a narrators says in the ad. "An old guard Republican clinging to the old ways of the bad old days."

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

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The ad criticizes Daniels' work leading the Office of Management in Budget and his positions on taxes when he served as governor.

Daniels has been considered a potential Senate candidate with GOP Sen. Mike Braun running for governor, leaving an open Senate seat. In December, Daniels told The Chuck Toddcast he hasn't "really thought about" his political future.

GOP Reps. Jim Banks and Victoria Spartz are also considering running for Senate.